ABSTRACT
When linguists talk about language standardisation, they mean the written codification of a particular spoken language or dialect that establishes that language or dialect as the dominant means of communication for a given community or territory. Virtually every language consists of multiple varieties, any of which could be elevated to the status of standard language for a given geographical or political group. The choice of one particular language or dialect is therefore always made at the expense of other candidates. The choice, then, is interest-driven and, by definition, political. Language standardisation, I will maintain, is driven in most cases, by politics rather than linguistics.
